Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / March 18, 1975, edition 1 / Page 1
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, the Journal volume X, number ^ “The Student newspaper of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.’ charlotte, north Carolina march 18, 1975 Media Board absorbs funds, withdraws approval of Sanskrit constitution The Student Media Board decision to absorb the funds and withdraw approval of the Sanskrit constitution has presented the campus with another media controversy. The question at point here, according to the Media Board motion, is the "uncooperative attitudes and blatant irresponsibility displayed by the Literary Magazine in regard to Student Media Board". Joe McCorkle, present editor of the Sanskrit publication was obviously upset with the Board's decision. McCorkle, along with editor-elect Beth Griffith, contacted the Charlotte Observer, WBTV and others in an attempt to have their side heard. At an emergency meeting of the Media Board concerning Sanskrit, 15-20 people more than the membership attended, either to protest or applaud the Board's earlier decision. During the meeting, the Board decided to define the motion (which is stated in full in the SMB article on page 3) passed the day before. Only one of the spectators, Ms. Griffith, spoke before the board. Ms. Griffith expressed discontent with the Media Board decision and wanted to know if she had been elected to a position that no longer existed. McCorkle, who voted against the Media Board proposal, explained his position on the decision. "I feel that the Media Board's decision is an attack upon the magazine, in fact upon the principles of all literary or creative arts magazines and that it anx)unts to censorship since you can't publish without money. "This action was a plot engineered before the election. If Mr. Rollins had won the election, everything would have been O.K. However, Beth Griffith won the election by 99 votes. This was a decision of the students of UNCC. I feel that the actions of this conspiring group should be exposed to the student body of UNCC as well 3s the surrounding Charlotte-Mecklenburg community. "It involves a situation in which the organization of not only student government, but the Media allow centralization of power and authority. In this respect, it is possible for the Media Board to exert censorship over any publication since they have the power to revoke constitutions and absorb money as they have done in the Sanskrit case which is now in effect. In addition, the way the current Student Government constitution is set up, the media are considered part of Student Government. Whoever heard of any publication being under a governmental apparatus. This is absurd. It is not a workable solution to allow editorial freedom. "The only solution I see is the abolishment of the Media Board since it's obvious that in the Sanskrit case the body is misusing its powers. Actually the Media Board began as a body to disperse funds at the beginning of the year. Several years before at UNCC, it was known as the Publications Board which allocated money. There were instances in the Pub Board in which censorship was played. Going even further in the history of the UNCC campus, at one time the Legislature allocated funds to the media. "In 1968, the yearbook editor. Candy Kimbrell, was under pressure from representatives from the Student Legislature because she wanted all the class pictures lumped together one, two, three, four. The senior class president at the time and other people were all upset because senior class pictures weren't going to be separated so they said we'll take your money honey unless you do what we're telling you. A case of censorship again. The Media Board is an extension of the same process. "Even if the people on the Media Board, whom I feel should resign because of their flagrant disregard for the first amendment, even if they were disposed of, the structure would still exist and considering the nature of things, it is only as good as the people that are in it. Having such a structure lends itself to power abuse. Besides that, all of the editors and the radio station manager are elected by the students of UNCC and they should be accountable just to the students. This is the only way that editorial freedom can be guaranteed." McCorkle also had a number of ideas to solve the Sanskrit problem. He related some of these to the Journal. "At this time, a petition is being passed around which is giving the students a chance to say whether they object to the -by michael evans Media Board's actions which took place on the fourth of March. On this petition, the motion is quoted verbatim. Our next steps are to look into the legalities of abolishing the Media Board. This is going to require some time and effort but there has to be a way because if the students of UNCC feel that the Media Board should be abolished, they should be able to abolish it without having to go through the Media Board or any other Student Government apparatus. I do think this is consistent with the ideals of a democratic society because if enough students are upset, they should be able to take matters into their own hands and have enough legislative power to do what they want to do. - (continued on page eight) Wyzanski, Simmons propose resignation In the Student Broadcasting meeting of Thursday, March 6 at 12:30 p.m., the general manager of WVFN, Dick Wyzanski told the members present to consider a plan which would allow Mike Hughes to become the sole general manager of the station. Wyzanski asked the members to think about the proposal and comment on it at the next meeting. The members of the SBA were visibly upset. Apparently having heard that such a statement might be coming from Wyzanski, they had comments and questions ready. The "proposed proposal" as Wyzanski referred to it, stated that once Wyzanski terminated his office the first of April and the tri-managers would legally take over the station, Lee Simmons and Dick Wyzanski would resing. Simmons and Wyzanski would be assigned key advising roles handling the techanical aspects and the AM sector of the station. Control of the FM station and the title of general manager would then be given solely to Hughes. Wyzanski told the SBA the tri-manager team had run to get Mike Hughes elected since he (Wyzanski) thought Hughes was qualified but was not well known on campus so the students would not vote for him. Wyzanski added that the "proposed proposal" had been planned prior to the election. SBA members flaunted Wyzanski with questions, many of which he later answered for the Journal. "The 'proposed proposal' to the SBA was preplanned as a proposal, not a fact. The reasons for this proposal is because the major problem in the SBA this year that has come to light In recent times has been the complete infighting type of thing and political mess within the Exective Board of the Station. In other words, we feel that there were two violently opposed forces and whoever won and whoever took office following the election, there would be this great infighting. "What we tried to get across to the SBA in this proposal is that we were trying to come up with an acceptable plan for the Exective Board and the people most concerned inthe station to be united in an effort to forget about all of this infighting, forget about all of this garbage and work toward the FM station and work toward a better radio station." Mike Hughes, the person who stands to gain the most should the "proposed proposal" actually take place, explained the situation further. "After the elections, there were a lot of anti-Dick Wyzanski forces within this radio station and they refused to cooperate with Dick at all if he were part of the t r i - ma nag e rs h ip and we discussed things with them about this 'proposed proposal'. They agreed with us that it would be the best move to make. "Another reason for the 'proposed proposal' being brought out now is that ina conference yesterday (March 5) with Dr. Orr and Betty Chafin, they reminded us of the fact that the Administration agreed only for this FM station for us to go ahead and proceed in filing and building the station with the promise that we cease operations of the AM station. We had planned to keep the AM station but they were strongly opposed to this when we told them that yesterday. Since they are the pebple who sign the application, we would more or less have to abide by their wishes. If we ceased operation of the AM station, there would be no need for the other managers. That's one reason we came up with this proposal." Wyzanski added that they were not aware of the fact that the AM station would have to cease -by michael evans operation until the meeting of March 5. Two members of the Exective Board of the SBA were available for comment on the proposal. Ted Cannaday, the present Operations Mananger of the station, said "I think it is the dirtiest, most unethical political ploy I have ever heard of. It was done simply to fool the students into electing a person Dick Wyzanski wanted. Dick actually admitted to myself and the SBA that it was a premeditated plot to make sure I didn't get elected. In fact, Mike Hughes told me that he never would have run if he knew he had to share the managership with two others. He knew all along that this was what they were going to do. "The students elected the tri-manager team obviously because they unwittingly swallowed Dick's campaign platform about how it's impossible for one man to run our radio station. Now he turns around and says there must be one manager over the entire operation. It was almost like reading my campaign literature back to me. Remember, I'm the one that always said there needed to be a single manager. He deceived the students, the people that voted for him", (continued on page eleven)
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March 18, 1975, edition 1
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